Germany linked up 818 MW of offshore wind to power networks in 2016

BWE said Europe's largest economy had 4.108 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity in total linked up with electricity networks at the end of last year. The government is targeting 6.5 GW by 2020.Reuters | January 20, 2017, 08:53 IST

FRANKFURT: Germany connected 818 megawatts (MW) of newly built offshore wind capacity to power networks last year, wind energy industry group BWE said on Thursday, less than in 2015 but still leaving the industry on course to beat government targets for 2020.

BWE said Europe's largest economy had 4.108 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity in total linked up with electricity networks at the end of last year. The government is targeting 6.5 GW by 2020.

In 2015, the industry connected 2.26 GW of new capacity, but said at the time that was a one-off growth because various projects had been delayed in previous years.

Germany added 156 production units in 2016, bringing the total to 947, BWE said, citing data pulled together from a number of lobbies and researchers. A further 123 MW of turbine capacity at 21 installations has been constructed, but not yet hooked up to the onshore grids, it added.

Part of Germany's push into renewable power, the offshore wind industry - which employs 20,000 - has faced hurdles getting off the ground. It now accounts for two percent of total power production of 648 TWh, according to energy group BDEW.

Deep water foundations and long distances between the turbines and mainland Germany, due to environmental factors not applying to other producer countries in Europe, have raised costs and caused delays due to technical challenges.

BWE and the Offshore-Windenergie foundation forecast that in 2017 another 1.4 GW of capacity would be added, followed by 1 GW a year until 2020.

Additions in 2021 and 2022 will be restricted to 500 MW when fixed-price schemes of the past will be changed to an auction-based system, tenders for which will start this April as auctions for big projects require long lead times.

The new system will reward the lowest bidders in order to bring green energy into the wholesale power market and away from a costly era of subsidies.

Companies such as Siemens and Alstom are vying to provide transmission technology for onshore grid companies TenneT and 50Hertz that receive and distribute the electricity.